31 Mar 2022

Building sports facilities across the country will boost prospects of hosting the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

Officiating at the handing over of newly constructed change rooms at the Sowa Town Council stadium this week, Assistant Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Mr Buti Billy said the change rooms came at the right time when the country was preparing to officially announce its bid to co-host the tournament with Namibia in 2027

He said the Sowa stadium would be ideal for training for teams that would be based in Francistown and playing their games at the Obert Chilume Stadium.

“The facility is accessible by both air and road in less than two hours from Francistown,” he said.

The assistant minister said countries that had previously hosted the tournament also started small.

He also said the country’s sports and recreation policy emphasised the development of recreational and sporting facilities in order to enable professionalism.
He said the facility would attract mass participation and improve returns on sports.

The assistant minister also commended Botswana Ash for constructing the change rooms. He said government encouraged private sector partnerships to grow the economy and assist government.
Meanwhile, Sua Flamingoes chairperson, Mr Tirelo Thebe said their promotion to the premier league provided them with the opportunity to engage Mr Ashford Mamelodi to assist with developing a five year strategic plan to transform the club from a society to a commercial entity.

He noted that they invited Botswana Football Association officials as part of their preparations to assess the stadium’s suitability to host premier league games.
He said the association recommended that they needed to build change rooms and improve the lighting so that games could be played under flood lights. He also said they were advised to upgrade the sitting capacity and to include the VIP section and media cubicles.

The project, he said, commenced in November 2020 and was completed in March 2022 at the cost of P1.2 million.ENDS